Sheyla Hernandez-Ortiz

Student Research Assistant

Sheyla Hernandez-Ortiz (she/her/hers) is a senior at UNCA. She is a Mexican American first-generation student pursuing a major in Anthropology and a minor in Asian Studies. She was born and raised in Asheville after her parents immigrated to the United States from Mexico in the late 1990s. Growing up she attended predominately white institutions but thanks to her parents, she had many connections with the small Latine community in the area.

Regarding race/ethnicity: “My parents did not speak English, and I was their first child, so I grew up with Spanish as my first language. Since elementary school, I have attended predominantly white schools. When I started kindergarten, I had to attend ESL (English as a Second Language) with a handful of other Latine students. I remember really appreciating the time I had with the other ESL students. We had many things in common, and we spoke the same language, Spanish. Once we graduated from ESL we went back to our regular classes and stopped seeing each other as often. In my classes, there were very few students of color. It was usually only two or three students out of about 25 kids. Sometimes, I was the only student of color. I was an amiable kid, so I made friends. However, whenever I was in school, I never had the chance to feel in touch with my roots. I did not have friends that could relate to the same things I did. Thankfully, outside of school, I was always very much in touch with my culture. We did not have much family in the Asheville area, and eventually, the family we had in the area either went back to Mexico or left to live in other areas. However, my parents were quick to make friends with the rest of the Latine community. My mom tells me that back then they knew most of the Hispanic people in the area since there were not many of us here. My parents were both really young when they had me. A lot of memories from my youth are of attending parties. Whether it was baptisms, weddings, or quinceañeras, I just remember them being so much fun. I loved interacting with all the kids. I loved the music, food, and dancing. I loved the feeling of connection and the warmth of our culture. In the past few years, I have learned that my mother’s side of the family is Otomi, a group of indigenous people that reside in central Mexico. My great-grandmother speaks Otomi, and my grandmother understands the language. My grandmother’s brothers speak Otomi, and they live in South Carolina. I am trying to branch out and learn more from them. As I have become a little more familiar with my indigenous roots, I have spent a lot of time thinking about with it means to be Mexican. Just as I have more work to do to become more intimate with my identity, as a society, we have much more work to do to advocate for POCs and those that have been marginalized."